Today, Mayor Frank Scott, Jr. announced the first community transmission of COVID-19, which means an individual has been infected without contact with someone known to be infected. In addition, the COVID-19 Task Force met for the first time and offered several recommendations. And three Little Rock district courts announced on Friday a modification of operations due to the COVID-19 health crisis.

During an afternoon press conference, UAMS Chancellor Cam Patterson reiterated recommendations of thorough hand-washing and social distancing. Patterson noted that the community transmission was not unexpected by health officials and that it would not change their guidance to the public. Dr. Dean Kumpuris, at-large city director and chairman of the COVID-19 Task Force, led a discussion to determine hospital preparedness in the city and where a possible centralized assessment site could be located. The task force is strongly urging, in keeping with previous recommendations from Mayor Scott, that events with expected attendance of 200 or more be rescheduled. The task force will reconvene at 2 p.m. Monday, March 16 in the City Hall Board Room.

Little Rock District Court, First Division (Criminal), will only hold its daily jail docket for in-custody Pulaski County Jail inmates. Saturday jail docket is held at the jail by an on-call District Court judge. There will be no trials or in-court hearings until after April 13, 2020. Most will be rescheduled for some time in June. 

All persons who are on the First Division docket, parties who may be subpoenaed, attorneys, etc., may contact the court during working hours (8 a.m.– 4 p.m., Monday through Friday), 501-371-4739, to inquire about cases, payment of fines/costs, probation reporting, or the rescheduling of cases. 

District Court, Second Division (Traffic), announced that scheduled court appearances (trials, arraignments and others) set for March 16 through March 19, 2020, will be postponed. Except for time-sensitive cases, all matters will be rescheduled to dates approximately six weeks into the future.

The Second Division court will call and/or mail people to notify them of new court dates. Anyone affected by this postponement who has not learned of their new court date by March 31 should call 501-371-4733 to speak with a clerk or email TrafficCourtContact@littlerock.gov and leave a detailed message with name, date of birth, and phone number, and the court will respond by email. 

Little Rock Environmental Court is also suspending operations. Defendants or attorneys with cases scheduled for the next two weeks should call 501-371-4454 if they have not already been notified via call or mail by court staff that their cases have been rescheduled.

Courts staff will regularly reevaluate cases and make announcements on the City’s website (littlerock.gov/covid19) and notify individuals by phone or letter.

Each court has fines and fees than can be payed online. To learn if an issued ticket is payable online, people may visithttps://pay.arcourts.gov/pay/ and follow the prompts after entering their ticket number.